LCD Alarm Clock Backlight Modifications

[@mc_cpu]

BigClive would be proud!

[@gavin9038]

Bigclive would have put in a pink backlight though!

[@vibingwithvinyl]

I did a similar modification to my car stereo, an Alpine unit. The backlit buttons and display were way too bright for night driving, even when dimmed down from the menu of the device. I opened up the detachable front panel and used some white paper to dim the display backlight leds down more and also used a black permanent marker pen to dim the leds illuminating the buttons. It's perfect now.

[@GeeTheBuilder]

I really liked this video. Instead of throwing it away or just accepting its faults you changed it. Just Like me, my dad and grandad would have done years ago (I’m similar age to you btw) I hope the next generation start to do this. We live in a disposable generation these days. If things aren’t perfect, they get “chucked away” I’d like to see mor videos like this. 25m or so is a good length in my view

[@muzikman2008]

I did a similar thing with my pure Dab radio alarm clock. It's display was very dim, controlled by LDR to affect its brightness during day & night. I just took out the LDR and put a resistor in its place.. But now I want to change it to a red background instead of blue/white I'm also going to but a variable resistor to change brightness. I love the sound quality of the radio. Hence my time doing it. Great vid JW

[@video99couk]

25:30 I have a weather station / clock bought from LIDL so made for the German market. But it does allow you to offset the one hour from German time. Actually I had to work on the backlight for that too. The original LEDs failed after a few months so I replaced them with two salvaged from a scrap mains LED light bulb. I didn't want to take the clock back because I like it, so a modification was the best way forward as LIDL no longer stocked it.

[@Pengo4man]

You managed to do something I thought was impossible. Take something apart and put it back together in a better condition, without any parts left over..

[@DrGreenGiant]

Fix it until it's broken!

[@brabhamfreaman166]

Excellent use of the word 'effort', as in eg. "this gaudy coloured effort". Good effort

[@NOWThatsRichy]

Sharpie idea is good, I've used coloured Sharpies in the past to recolour faded or clear Christmas light lamps! Another thing that is useful for colour changing effects especially if used with white LEDs, are the plastic wrappers from Quality Street sweets, you can mix & match them for an almost infinite number of colours. Btw, if you buy radio controlled clocks from Lidl or Aldi, (I've got several) they use the German DCF 77 time standard but there is always a setting in the menu to change the time by + or - several hours, depending on what part of Europe you live in.

[@DrGreenGiant]

Nail varnish also works really well for filters and is waterproof (old army trick for torches!)

[@gavin9038]

Bigclive loves nail varnish albeit usually to seal panels on solar lights. Useful stuff, just avoid the silly ones that aren't clear :)

[@gazzaka]

I like your increasingly technical videos...Well done !

[@englishrupe01]

Wow! Excellent job, John...and great humour thrown in...thanks!

[@madbstard1]

The same signal works here in Ireland - having the same timezone as the UK is handy :D Wonder if you cut a hole in the back of the case and bent the temperature probe so it was sticking outside, would it be more accurate? The leads of the probe certainly looks long enough.

[@Synthematix]

Excellent, subbed. next time you do something like this use a piece of laminating sheet plastic, one side is diffused and great for led backlights

[@paulcollins664]

Hello John, I use that beacon I think, for my homemade GPS frequency standard of 10 MHz,when I first built it ,it was Rugby station,anyway the clock looks better for the treatment, zebra strips can be a troublesome beasts, the times I've had to mess around with them. All the best Paul

[@K2teknik.]

Some clocks allows you to set an offset time (offset from the radio source) and in that way you can use the clock everywere you like no matter what timezone it may be, this id useful if you have German clock source with the dcf77 radiosignal and you do not live in Germany.

[@NOWThatsRichy]

Hans K.K. Like the ones you buy from Lidl or Aldi stores.

[@Graham_Langley]

+Richy, The Tinkerer & Wanderer. On analogue ones they set the hands at 11 instead of 12 in the home position for the UK market.

[@lordmuntague]

This is a very good mod. Back in my roadie days I adapted some PAR38 reflector bulbs by painting them with stained glass ink from an art shop, and they worked fine. Same deal with the pen, good choice. If you visit shops which sell stage supplies you can probably pick up off-cuts of lantern gels, especially since modern LED stage lighting has reduced the need for them, so I'm guessing the stuff might be cheaper now?

[@JasperJanssen]

lordmuntague less demand, probably more expensive, not less.

[@Bin216]

Any clock sold in the UK should either receive MSF60 (the UK transmitter), or have the option to offset the time from DCF77 (the German/EU transmitter). The alarm clock I have has a UK - EU switch next to the battery, and also it has the option in the settings menu to offset the time from -23 to +23 hours.

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

Great job! It's even better than when it was new 😀 the clock reminds me of my Roberts alarm clock which has an extremely dim backlight.

[@vmailtk5]

You can ignore the best before date on the battery, you can use it way longer than that date assuming that there is charge left in the battery

[@NOWThatsRichy]

Nadim Awan2 I've used alkaline batteries that are 10 years past the use by date and they are fine!

[@JasperJanssen]

Yeah, but that date does tell you the battery is very, very old.

[@WahidKhan-rx9jo]

Very interesting mate , just what i was looking for , so cheers!

[@RobertSzasz]

You should buy a theatrical lighting gel set, infinitely useful just like proper gaffers tape

[@benbaselet2026]

Dismantling an old TV or monitor provides a good source of salvaging diffusive plastic sheet and other optical wizardry for no money. I usually keep a couple of sheets just in case something like this comes along.

[@val71999]

I know this is a really old video, but is there a way to do this with a light that isn't white? changing the color i mean. i've got a super bright clock with a green light, and i hate it. sharpie method isn't working well. i know thats very nit picky, but i'm an interior decorator and like things to match, and prefer to upcycle rather than buying new things.

[@jwflame]

You will need to change the LEDs to another colour. Most single colour LEDs can't be filtered as there is only a single wavelength of light. The white ones and some others use a phosphor which emits a wide spectrum, so that can be changed with a coloured filter.

[@i-will-get-you-there]

Good stuff! Thanks for this useful video. Now on my way to see if I can add led strip back light to lcd (need to power it) wall clock and see if they can be usable.

[@8953147]

Sharpie works in mysterious ways!

[@muzikman2008]

.. Oh.. The temperature is prob because the sensor is to close to the main pcb, it's detecting the pcb temp instead. Bend it away near the vent, or wire it with extra wires away from the pcb or hot areas.. 😉

[@flapjackboy]

Or it could be set to Fahrenheit.

[@LynxSnowCat]

and/or the thermistor isn't significantly more sensitive than a plain resistor.

[@warrengray610]

Hi John, I would have used the green

[@ArtyMars]

This is so cooool!

[@frazer26]

Buy a tin of quality street and use the wrappers

[@quertize]

I made similar mod on my alarm clock. Old LEDs got dim and uneven, but were just pushed in molded holes in light guide plastic - changed them for new ones.

[@Graham_Langley]

The current beside radio here is a nice DAB one one dumped at a charity shop because the white backlight LED was being run at a silly current on its highest setting resulting in near enough zero output after only three years. Replaced it with a undiffused red one and it's fine on the lowest setting.

[@LakeNipissing]

Dang, that NPL signal lies between audio and Long Wave... that is a *low* broadcast frequency!

[@iamdarkyoshi]

I usually just tape LEDs to the back of the glued in ones and enough light makes it through that it works fine. Also sharpie can be removed with IPA ;)

[@crazygeorgelincoln]

Be nice if the council took a sharpie to the new horrible street lighting.

[@ArlenMoulton2]

We haven't been blessed with that awful technology outside my house yet, won't be long though, my road is the last one in my area without them fitted.

[@andljoy]

What the glare ' o vision lighting that makes it so you cannot see fuck all when your driving ? That lighting ?

[@harro7992]

Without the diffuser you can see all the little dots on the display.

[@danielhorne6042]

i had one of those and i put a rgb slow changing led

[@simontay4851]

Are you sure the temp is not set to stupid Fahrenheit instead of C. 70F is about 22C

[@DonaldSleightholme]

i think it’s the length of the antenna to choose a different frequency so maybe they could be modified to set a different time somehow? 🤔🤷‍♂️

[@markrowland5393]

Excellent video, thanks.

[@GarryL277]

You should do a video with big Clive. Also a youtuber.

[@antraciet]

Very useful video.

[@Graham_Langley]

Took me a few seconds to realise how the 7-seg pattern had been burnt into the red ink.

[@NickNorton]

As John said the clock is fairly old. Could be sunlight (during daytime obviously) that has bleached the colour filter.

[@Graham_Langley]

+Nick Norton Looks like it took you a couple of days.

[@GeeTheBuilder]

If anyone wants one of these (I do but I don’t know why!) they are available on eBay for £20 No, I have no relationship with either the manufacturer, sellers on eBay or indeed John :)

[@warrengray610]

Magnetic screwdrivers, yep bittersweet, use normal and little bloob of blutac

[@____________________________.x]

You should screw this into a briefcase and show it to people, tell them it’s a clock you’ve made from scratch or something. Liberals will then give you free stuff and tell you how clever you are.

[@-yeme-]

Bad idea. Paranoid fascists will assume its a bomb and call the anti terrorist police. Aren't out of place, out of date and pointless political jibes fun?

[@____________________________.x]

Actually, it was always known that it was a fake, the charge was that he made a "hoax bomb" and that rightly the (normal, local) police were called in. So, no paranoia and no fascism, m'kay? It's always worth reminding Liberals about how they continue to fawn over anyone from the most misogynist, homophobic, totalitarian, patriarchal group on earth, whilst pretending to be firmly against all those issues. Also, he took apart a clock and shoved it in a case and then pretended he'd built "something". He'd built jack shit and he deserved to be taken the piss out of for being a pretentious dickhead, but Liberals are so full of their own BS that as soon as they saw what group he was from, they fell over themselves to suck up to him. Pathetic.

[@warrengray610]

Blob! Sorry

[@frac]

Just FYI - you can edit your comments. Click the vertical ... and then 'Edit'. The comment even says (edited) after the timestamp if you do it.

[@warrengray610]

Fracture Hi Fracture you are correct, but hey it felt right I just went with it, I shall keep a careful eye on the space time continuum just in case it has an adverse effect! My humour/ your compensation

[@markrowland5393]

Good info.